WASHINGTON

From Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani, to Barack Obama and Mitt Romney -- and others soon to be consigned to the political garbage room -- they all show that the principle of campaigning has escaped them.

They have forgotten that the Constitution begins with "We the People."

Surrounded by campaign staff, expert in every aspect of the nation's governance (and with teams of police supplementing their rent-a-cop security details), those seeking the presidency forget that it is the "people" they hope to represent, not their own ego.

This was a truth that Ronald Reagan was the last president to understand. And President Reagan also knew what the current batch of aspirants refuses to recognize -- that the American people are not stupid.

All that is heard are platitudes -- excellent for sound bites and headline writers but unbelievable to most living outside the Beltway. How can a Romney or an Obama explain, in a sound bite, the Mideast peace conference or the shambles that is Pakistan?

And these claimants to the White House pretend to believe that a photo op at the local diner or hugging the local mayor enables them to understand the hearts and minds of America.

What "We the People" are seeking is a leader with charisma who is honest and has strong convictions. We are not seeking a leader who claims to uphold the rule of law while advocating legislation that provides amnesty for illegal aliens or who replies to questions about torturing prisoners by whining, "I've not yet been briefed."

This pathetic show of what pretends to be democracy in action has gone on too long and is no longer amusing. All that we have seen is a score of Republicans and Democrats all looking well groomed, healthy and extremely well nourished.

And there are many other candidates who believe they are qualified for the Oval Office. Some are dangerous. Some are amusing.

There is Frank James Moore, a guy in his 60s whose resume states he is a television personality with many artistic skills, but born with cerebral palsy. However, Frank received a National Education Grant in the 1990s to produce works of art, which Sen. Jesse Helms labeled as "obscene."

Moore's presidential platform includes cutting all welfare and Social Security payments. Instead, every American would receive a minimum income of $1,000 a month; all mass transit would be free; and the military budget would be cut by half. His vice-presidential running mate is Susan Block, a talk show host, writer and sex therapist who "rides the airwaves into the future."

Dr. Block sometimes writes political screeds for CounterPunch, a biweekly newsletter described by its editors as "muckraking with a radical attitude."

Then there is Princess Christina, who, according to her biography, was tapped as "The Chosen One" by her father, Theodore Michael Gerasimos, "the first Greek in Detroit." If elected, the princess will restore the White House "with grace and dignity" and take "a stand on fighting government corruption and misconduct."

John Taylor Bowles, 49, born in Baltimore, represents the National Socialist Movement. He is a Baptist resident of South Carolina. As a presidential candidate, Bowles states that he is "the white people's candidate." Regarding immigration, he told Corey Hutchins of the Columbia City Paper that he will remove many nonwhites from the United States. He says the Patriot Act gives him this right.

Then there's David Ernest Furniss, a Republican of Florida, formerly a computer expert in the U.S. Army. Concludes his campaign statement: "I have a Dream that we as Christians can make the country a better place for all of us until the coming of the Lord."

And then there's Michael Jesus Archangel of Midland, Mich., known until 1996 as Philip Silva. Will America really vote for a former janitor who's now a self-employer writer?